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Do you have enough toilet paper?


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I was in Walmart tonight getting some groceries in case my city gets locked down due to the virus and I asked the cashier how was his day.  He said "Nuts...some people are crazy."  Then he told me about a woman that was yelling at him because they were out of toilet paper.  Apparently she was fighting with some male customer over toilet paper and the guy won. 

 

The shelves throughout the store minutes before closing looked like they had been looted and picked clean.  I asked a guy stocking shelves and he said all the shelves will be fully stocked by morning.  He did mention it is getting worse each day. 

 

I saw a guy from China a week ago leaving Walmart with bottled water and toilet paper...nothing else.  My city has some of the best water in the world from the tap.  I would think buying food would make more sense.

 

My wife saw a few packages of toilet paper and she tried to grab one and I told her to leave it, we have a few week supply and it is better to leave it for someone else.  It does feel nice to have our panty stocked up with a few weeks supply of food.

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In Italy it has been the same. I live a few km from where the outbreak started on 20th of February. But there is no reason to panic over supplies of food and other goods, . Since a couple of days, everything is closed, except pharmacies and grocery stores, work has been restricted to some activities, all the schools are closed since 3 weeks.. Prohibited wandering around, we MUST stay at home,  coronavirus walks with our legs.

stay safe and empty those sprues!

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I've seen pics of people filling their grocery carts with toilet paper and all I could think was "WTF?" Do they think that because of the virus there will be a world wide toilet paper shortage? I tell you, people are strange. Go figure. :dontknow:

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Panic buying has been rife amid the global spread of the new coronavirus, with consumers around the world stockpiling goods like hand sanitizer, canned foods and toilet paper.
 
The trend has seen stores ration products, with U.K. retailers limiting sales of hand hygiene products while Australian shoppers have seen restrictions on the amount of toilet paper they can buy.
 

Psychologists spoke to CNBC to weigh in on why our brains push us to panic buy — even when authorities are assuring the public there's no need to.

According to Paul Marsden, a consumer psychologist at the University of the Arts London, the short answer can be found in the psychology of "retail therapy" — where we buy to manage our emotional state.

 

"It's about 'taking back control' in a world where you feel out of control," he said. "More generally, panic buying can be understood as playing to our three fundamental psychology needs." Those needs were autonomy, or a need for control, relatedness, which Marsden defined as "we shopping" rather than "me shopping," and competence, which is achieved when making a purchase gives people a sense that they are "smart shoppers."

 

'Fear contagion'

Meanwhile, Sander van der Linden, an assistant professor of social psychology at Cambridge University, said there were both generalized and coronavirus-specific factors at play. "In the U.S., people are receiving conflicting messages from the CDC and the Trump administration," he said. "When one organization is saying it's urgent and another says it's under control, it makes people worry."

 

President Donald Trump downplayed the impact of the U.S. coronavirus outbreak on Twitter this week, with a disconnect reportedly widening between the administration and U.S. health authorities. The virus is now present in at least 35 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

 

More generally, a "fear contagion" phenomenon was taking hold, van der Linden added.

"When people are stressed their reason is hampered, so they look at what other people are doing. If others are stockpiling it leads you to engage in the same behavior," he said. "People see photos of empty shelves and regardless of whether it's rational it sends a signal to them that it's the thing to do."

 

"Sometimes there can be a lot of value in social knowledge — from an evolutionary perspective when we don't know how to react to something, we look to others for guidance," he added. "If you're in the jungle and someone jumps away from a snake you automatically do the same thing. But sometimes that gets highjacked and you're told to do something that's not the right thing to do."

 

While sales of hand soaps and sanitizers have soared in markets around the world since the outbreak began, consumers have also been stocking up on a somewhat surprising item – toilet paper. According to Dimitrios Tsivrikos, lecturer in consumer and business psychology at University College London, toilet paper had become an "icon" of mass panic.

 

"In times of uncertainty, people enter a panic zone that makes them irrational and completely neurotic," he said in a phone call. "In other disaster conditions like a flood, we can prepare because we know how many supplies we need, but we have a virus now we know nothing about."

 

"When you enter a supermarket, you're looking for value and high volumes," he added, noting that people are drawn to the large packaging that toilet paper comes in when they are looking to regain a sense of control.

 

Tsivrikos, like van der Linden, told CNBC the lack of a clear voice from authority figures was fueling the panic.

 

"The public is getting conflicting advice from the government and retailers," he said. "So people mass buy. I blame the system for not having a unanimous voice on what we should be doing."

 

However, Peter Noel Murray, a New York-based member of the American Psychological Association and the Society for Consumer Psychology, disagreed that authority figures had the power to calm the panic-buying trend.

 

"If authorities were to consistently say that this virus is not a problem it wouldn't change anything," he told CNBC via telephone. "Campaigns that are authoritative are not successful if they don't tap into people's behavior."

 

According to Murray, cognitive and emotional responses were the two key factors involved in influencing our decisions during situations like the coronavirus outbreak.

 

"In this case the cognitive factor is cognitive bias, (which means) we tend to overemphasize things that are recent and very vivid," he explained. "When there's a plane crash people don't fly, when there's a shark attack people think all sharks are killers. That process makes us think that whatever the current thing is, it's similar to some terrible thing — it catastrophizes our view of whatever this thing is."

 

In this case, Murray said, people might be associating the coronavirus with a past deadly outbreak, like the 1918 Spanish flu that killed around 50 million people worldwide.

 

"On the emotional side, the answer is self-affirmation. In our minds we know one day we are going to be dead, and the mind deals with it through (seeking) control," Murray said. "There's an over-representation of fear and people's minds need to respond to those kinds of feelings," he added. "The need for self-affirmation is triggered, and that drives us to do unreasonable things like buying a year's worth of toilet paper. It overwhelms the knowledge that we don't need to be doing that."

Edited by The Underdog
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So a friend of mines mother is a nurse and few days ago loaded up a whole car full of toilet paper and other nonsense. At work, she didnt use mask and a patient who tested positive for corona sneezed on her. So now she has to be quarantined for 2 weeks atleast. Because obviously the priority was toilet paper, not to use protection around corona infested patients. Lizard brain in action.

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I admit that I got 30 rolls yesterday. I didn't know exactly why people were stocking up on it, but if it's going fast, it's better to be safe than sorry.

 

Plus, the way I look at it is that toilet paper is something that you can always use. It won't go bad or expire. This just saves me the hassle of having to buy it for a good while.

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6 minutes ago, 11bee said:

I have spare rolls.  If anyone needs one to add to your stash, PM me.   $50/ea.   

I have plenty of TP. What's missing (and I'm willing to give the $50) is a Fujimi 1/72 A-4E/F. Got any????😁

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That brings to mind this, https://www.southernliving.com/winter/why-people-buy-bread-snowstorm-science

Quote

 

The Reason Why People Buy Bread in a Snowstorm, According to Psychology

By Melissa Locker

 

 

Returning to being serious, given this new neurologist is convinced he's going to find I have an autoimmune disease at the root of my decades of somewhat messy health, and my immune system is already a bit iffy, and I live in a county seat farm burg in the midwest, how paranoid about this coronavirus thing should I be?

 

I haven't yet beaten up anyone to get their toilet paper, wonder how soon I should go do that?

 

And that segues in to, What good is a pandemic if you can't have a little fun with it?

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2020/mar/11/monday-night-toilet-roll-fights-sport-age-coronavirus-marina-hyde

Quote

 

Monday Night Toilet Roll Fights: sport in the age of coronavirus

Marina Hyde

With closed doors, postponements and cancellations an inevitability, perhaps Premier League referees and Sky Sports cameras should instead relocate to supermarket aisles

 

 

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Living in earthquake/fire country were always prepared for 2 weeks.

 

After watching what was happening in China I figured it was only a matter of time before it hit our shores. With a family of four ( we’re in our mid 40s-50s so not high risk but not exactly low risk either) and with two under 5 we go through a lot of TP.  I stocked up about a month ago on everything we would need with the exception of fresh produce in case everything got locked down for 30days. It’s all stuff we regularly use anyways so it won’t be going to waste. 

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1 hour ago, southwestforests said:

Returning to being serious, given this new neurologist is convinced he's going to find I have an autoimmune disease at the root of my decades of somewhat messy health, and my immune system is already a bit iffy, and I live in a county seat farm burg in the midwest, how paranoid about this coronavirus thing should I be?

I don't think you're paranoid or that you're at the "edge" of becoming one.

 

I'm in a similar situation (messy health for the past 10+ years), trying to find if I have an autoimmune disease that is causing everything, though my doctor says that we may never find what it is (for example, rheumatoid arthritis, etc.). Consequently, I'm a bit concerned about how the virus could affect my already vulnerable health, including the fact that I have members of my family that do not want to accept the seriousness of the whole situation we're going through not only locally but also, globally.

 

Anyhow, keep up your faith brother and keep modelling!!!

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Out here in Utah its full on panic mode. We've got a bunch of doomsday preppers out here, plus an enormous amount of huge Mormon families. The media has got them all whipped into a frenzy and they're stripping the grocery stores of everything in sight. You can't get water, TP, paper towels, sanitizer, rice, beans, potatoes, frozen food, and most canned goods. My wife went by the local Winco store at 9 this morning to do our weekly shopping while most folks are at work. It didn't matter...... it was so crowded that if you wanted a grocery cart you had to wait until someone came out with one and unloaded it. Usually there's 200 of them out in front of the store. She ended up waiting in the check out line for over an hour just to get out of the store! It's just flat out stupid the way that people are reacting to this. It's a flu people.... settle down. It probably never occurred to these folks that they're a lot more likely to catch it in a public store with 1000 other crazed shoppers than sitting at home.

 

I find it really appalling that the media and social media has so much control over people that they go into a crazed frenzy at the slightest provocation. What would happen if we had a large earthquake or similar natural disaster? Widespread looting and people killing each other over TP probably! It's like a contest to see who can overact the most....

 

I caught part of some morning show at the doctors office yesterday and this host Savannah something or other was talking to Vice President Pence, and she was trying everything that she could to get the VP to say that "millions could be ask risk in the US". She was so desperate to get him to say "millions" that she was literally putting the words in his mouth. Thankfully he didn't let her.  I found it to be an utterly disgusting display! As far as I'm concerned, the media is largely responsible for pouring gas on this fire. Fred K.

 

Oh... and before anyone gets too worked up, a lot of my friends (including several here on ARC), neighbors, and co-workers are Mormons. They're generally good people, but they do tend to have large families. Its a running joke out here.

 

 

Edited by f5guy
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Interesting to see how some people state that the media is the root cause for the hysteria and the panic.

 

COVIN-19 is killing people. Let's just get that fact put there. It may not be Spanish Flu type numbers but it is killing people that are affected by it and at a fast rate. This is a new virus that no one has ever been exposed to before and we don't have immunities built up to counter it.

 

If that's not a reason to be hysterical what is? The media doesn't have to create the panic as there are people who will panic just based off of the facts. Let them. Why waste energy being upset about it?

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6 hours ago, 11bee said:

I have spare rolls.  If anyone needs one to add to your stash, PM me.   $50/ea.   

 

 

This is peak supply and demand.

 

 

Its all fun and games until its not.

 

Whether you think its justified or unjustified. If there is a run on something due to even the perception of scarcity it does indeed become scarce. in which case you experience a shortage. once the run on TP began, you were faced with either playing along and making a rush yourself, or taking a risk that it will return, or you're set for possible weeks or months of shut down or quarantine.. 

 

not my first panic. Sometimes you get to feel stupid, and other times very relieved. 

 

A lot of people have tried to explain that the goal here, is to be one less burden on a stressed system. its actually a form of civic duty to be self sufficient in an emergency so the less fortunate or less prepared can get help while you coast along until it passes. no drama.   the issue is people should have been doing that  (prepping) steadily every week or every other week for years. not all the last month or whatever in a panic. For some reason the people who think bad times actually exist are made fun of, and there's seemingly no one to explain the concept I just outlined above which should be taught in schools. BONUS: when people feel confident and prepared they're much harder to manipulate by the media or other opportunists. 

 

boston-police-milk.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

 

I will not be wasting the cops time to have them get me groceries, which is good because if things get bad enough they won't waste their time either

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by TaiidanTomcat
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8 minutes ago, Whiskey said:

Interesting to see how some people state that the media is the root cause for the hysteria and the panic.

 

COVIN-19 is killing people. Let's just get that fact put there. It may not be Spanish Flu type numbers but it is killing people that are affected by it and at a fast rate. This is a new virus that no one has ever been exposed to before and we don't have immunities built up to counter it.

 

its not media hype in healthcare world I can tell you that. 

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I'm one of those with, what did you call it, "messy health" (I like that phrase). The coronavirus does have me concerned. Should I catch it, I am fairly certain that I would probably get very sick, maybe even end up in the hospital. So, been self-isolating as much as possible. Having groceries delivered. Having just about everything delivered for that matter (Amazon is my friend). My lady friend and I don't have a lot of room, so stockpiling groceries is kinda out. Haven't seen much panic behavior locally, though I'm not going out, so I guess I can't make that claim for certain.

One thing I think people should realize is that for elderly or people with poor health, the coronavirus can be a very serious illness. I am glad to see that it doesn't seem to effect the young as much. Nothing worse than seeing something like this start taking our children. The other thing people need to realize, is even if it does hit where you are, it will run its course. My main concern, other than my own health, is that people of little means can get the care and necessities of life that they need. In spite of the run on T-paper and other items, most of us with some money and heath insurance will make it through this. It is unfortunate that in my country (the USA) there are still many people without health insurance and many struggling to make ends meet. I hope those in charge will step up and make sure that those people will get the care they need. This is NOT a political statement. It is just a matter of fact. Doesn't matter who is in charge, they need to see to the needs of those that cannot on their own.

 

Mods, if those statements are too controversial, I will delete them at your request. I don't consider them political, but others may.

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